Rise and shine! We began our day with a good buffet breakfast at Kajima Kogen Hotel, it was there we learnt how to appreciate tarako (ming tai zi/men-tai-ko) due to recommendations fr Ruru and D*anny. It's salty but v gd for health. It is eaten w rice so tt it wun b too salty! Ru's lk a foodie queen la...she alw noes wad's gd food(Korea and Japan)....oni thg i cant concur w is tt fermented beans called natou......but it's v gd for health la..too bad we 4 dunno hw to appreciate it! bleahh

Picture of our breakfast:
(Miso soup, orange juice, eggs r mus-havs every morn! haha)

We knew it wld b the last day w Tanaka-san driving us ard the Kyushu prefecture...n we were at d bus early so we posed w Tanaka-san...say cheeze!! =D







Mountain! Highly anticipating our Mt Aso conquest:

After breakfast, it was a few hours of coach ride to Mt Aso(阿蘇山). It is the largest active volcano in Japan, and amg d largest in d world...dun play play k! haha...It stands in Kumamoto Prefecture, its peak at 1592 m above sea level. Its caldera is 25 km across north to south and 18 km across east to west[Source:Wikipedia]. The caldera is the round crater like thingy which we will later see in d pics.

D*anny was asking Shaun, a v cute n lame daddy of 2 young gals to pray tt d weather wld b gd (because he's a devout buddhist), so we cld go up Mt Aso via the ropeway to tk a look at d caldera! Thank god, d weather permitted us to go up on the ropeway yay. The 2 way trip cost us 1000yen per person.

The lush green tt greeted us along d long winding roads:








The entrance of the ropeway station of Mt Aso:



Queuing up for the ride....Brrrr...it was cold....all of us made sure we were well-decked in our sweaters and scarves......






In the cable car w wl, ru and qi posing:

We never knew wat's cold until we were greeted w strong gusts of wind tt sent chills dwn our spines....literally......haha....

Mt Aso Finally! Hurray~~

Our hair blowing in all directions, behind us's the caldera, with greenish sulphur steaming below:

Yeah! You get the pic (of hw strong d winds were and how cold we were) hur! =P

Pics of the caldera:




Please do not enter. No Smoking (for obvious reasons haha):

People selling blks of sulphur (in yellow):

Here's d winding path shld you decide to climb dwn Mt Aso instead of taking the ropeway:


Some "potholes" w nthg inside on the other side of the landscape:

We took a loop and walked dwn a flight of stairs to return back to the ropeway station whr we alighted the cable car:




Posing on the flight of stairs, I rbred daddy shaun took this pic for us haha:

More pics b4 leaving Mt Aso:



Taken in the ropeway on our way dwn Mt Aso:

We were early so we went for food-tasting again at the shops! haha.....so gluttony =D Posed agn at the entrance of Mt Aso ropeway station........

Blow wind blow:

After Mt Aso, we headed for lunch at a Sumo restaurant(xiang pu guan)...no...we din see any sumo wrestlers but this place was a restaurant cum sumo gallery which showcased d history of sumo wrestling in Japan...D*anny said tt sumos have a short career span....they rise v quickly if they r famous, often getting big fat pay checks fr endorsements or invitations to opening ceremonies...but once they age, they've no more mkt value to speak of.....

Tucking into our food, the first place tt served us sashimi....

Wl w Mr Sumo:

Ru and me w Mr Sumo:

Rubbing Buddha's tummy for some gd luck hehe:

Entrance of the Sumo restaurant:

Ernie and Qi secretly wanting to rub Buddha's tummy agn--caught in d act! herhherh:

After lunch, off we are to Kumamoto Castle (熊本城), one of Japan's 3 most famous and largest castle, d other 2's in Osaka and Nagoya. Short 10 mins ride to Kumamoto Castle, which celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2007...

Us 5 w the majestic Kumamoto Castle: RaWrrrr

We had to trek all the way in, to enter the castle:




Posed w d guard on duty...poor him lea...lk a statue on photo-taking duty:



Thr is a musuem inside the castle:

From left: Bird's eye view of castle, sign telling us tt d display is a model of the castle, Qi n ru posing w d model of castle, some of the names written on d wooden piece (thr were many) of the ppl who once lived in d castle, those shogunates and their family...

Thr were many floors of the museum within d castle...u can climb all the way up to d top floor of d castle....which givs u a breathtaking view of d city :











Snap snap snap:










oh yea, Ms Foo took her glasses out (which she highly detests wearing) so tt she can tk a closer look at the specimens in the museum! so proud of her desire to find out more...rawrrr =p





Leaving the castle:



When we left the castle, we saw this red thingy fr d bus...it is actuali wad u will see outside shinto shrines...it says "he ge" which means pass...apparently, Japanese parents come here to pray for their children to pass d entrance exams w flying colours! Woots

Aft visiting Kumamoto Castle, off we were rushin to the Ferry station....onboard d Hankyu cruise fr Oita to Kobe....it was another 2 hours of bus ride...see wad ernie n qi were doing while D*anny was telling us "stories"!


Diongs....taking pics of their converse shoes...so bo liao rt ^^


We reached d ferry station on time, thks to Tanaka-san! We bidded him farewell....D*anny taught us this jap phrase to tell Tanaka-san...Ostsukali...i dunno wads d correct jap spelling bt D*anny told us to rbr it as "wo chi curry" haha...how lame....anws this phrase means "xin ku ni le"....to say to d person as a form of appreciate for his dedication and hardwrk....Ostsukali tanaka-san!! =D

We checked into the cruise....got rooms for our keys, surveyed our tiny but comfy rooms...me n ru got d western rms aka w beds, d 3 gals got d jap rms aka tatamis...tonight bathing n toileting wld all b done in a common bathroom....thank god thr were few ppl onboard and being in Japan, d toilets were zan! Pretty clean! =)

Pics of our rooms:




View of d sea frm our tiny windows...i mus say d cruise was pretty stable =)

We had to fall in for dinner at 630pm. Ru w a pic of the Hankyu Ferry:


Our cup showing our ferry route: Oita-Kobe


Our dinner consisting of: salad, spaghetti, tempura, wedges and honey roasted chicken:






It was still early aft dinner and since thr was no entertainment onboard, we decided to go onto d deck to tk pics!











Hahaha this is farni...inspired by Jack n Rose's famous titantic scene awwww~:








Interior of the ferry:

It was still q early...so we went to d convenience shop at lvl 1 to buy snacks to pig out in our rooms...haha chips, lotsa ice creamm, biscuits etc.....


Ru's fav strawberried-wrapper sweets:

Wl and ru's eyes were practically glued on d tv cos finally we were viewing some progs tt we cld understand in mandarin! Thr was Wu Zun n his boygrp and even Joe Chen promoting d themepark at Mt Fuji on teevee...

Sleeping turned out to be terrible on the ferry cos we cld feel d ferry bobbing up and down..so it felt lk we were going backwards...so we had to turn n slp d opp direction(we even resorted slping perpendicular to our bed.hehe)...slept 2 hrs d entire nite..cos we had to b up by 4am...as d ferry wld dock in Kobe at 630am! Goodddness..imagine 2-3 hrs of slp when we r gg to conquer USJ d nxt day hahah......

Pics of our Breakfast:




A groupie pic b4 we left d ferry!

Picked up by Yamaguchi-san, an old man who's v experienced!....Bus was so much smaller, luggage was too much for allocated storage space...so..no luxury of having 2 seats to 1 person...we 5 had to squeeze at d back...bumpy bumpy....

Stay tuned for USJ!! Wootss~~

loves, shany